2 Kings 14:7-14: a reflection

7He killed ten thousand Edomites in the Valley of Salt, and took Sela by war, and called its name Joktheel, to this day. 8Then Amaziah sent messengers to Jehoash, the son of Jehoahaz son of Jehu, king of Israel, saying, “Come, let’s look one another in the face.” 9Jehoash the king of Israel sent to Amaziah king of Judah, saying, “The thistle that was in Lebanon sent to the cedar that was in Lebanon, saying, ‘Give your daughter to my son as wife.’ Then a wild animal that was in Lebanon passed by, and trampled down the thistle. 10You have indeed struck Edom, and your heart has lifted you up. Enjoy the glory of it, and stay at home; for why should you meddle to your harm, that you fall, even you, and Judah with you?” 11But Amaziah would not listen. So Jehoash king of Israel went up; and he and Amaziah king of Judah looked one another in the face at Beth Shemesh, which belongs to Judah. 12Judah was defeated by Israel; and each man fled to his tent. 13Jehoash king of Israel took Amaziah king of Judah, the son of Jehoash the son of Ahaziah, at Beth Shemesh and came to Jerusalem, then broke down the wall of Jerusalem from the gate of Ephraim to the corner gate, four hundred cubits. 14He took all the gold and silver and all the vessels that were found in the LORD’s house and in the treasures of the king’s house, the hostages also, and returned to Samaria.

Amaziah, king of Judah, wins a great victory over Edom, and it goes to his head. Flush with success, he challenges Jehoash, king of Israel, to battle. Jehoash sends back a shrewd warning wrapped in a fable: a lowly thistle once demanded that a lofty cedar give its daughter in marriage, and a wild animal trampled the thistle flat. The point is plain: You have defeated Edom, and your heart has lifted you up. Enjoy your glory, but stay home. Why provoke disaster and fall, you and Judah with you? But Amaziah would not listen, went to war, and was crushed, his army routed, Jerusalem's wall broken down, its treasures plundered.

Notice what undid Amaziah: not the victory itself, but what the victory did to his heart. Your heart has lifted you up, Jehoash warned. Success had bred overconfidence, and overconfidence made him reckless and unteachable, unable to hear wise counsel to be content and stay home. The very triumph that should have been enjoyed became the seedbed of a worse defeat, because it puffed him up.

There is a searching warning here about how we handle success. Victories and achievements are dangerous precisely because of what they can do to the heart: lift it up, breed overconfidence, make us reckless and deaf to counsel, convinced we cannot lose. Amaziah could not enjoy his win and stay wise; he had to press on, and it ruined him. When success comes to you, watch your heart. Do not let it lift you into overconfidence that despises caution and cannot hear counsel. Enjoy God's blessing with humility, and beware the recklessness that success can breed.

Lord, Amaziah's victory lifted up his heart into overconfidence, and, unable to hear wise counsel, he pressed on to ruin. When success comes to me, guard my heart from the pride and recklessness it can breed. Keep me humble in my achievements, teachable rather than deaf to counsel, content rather than grasping for more. Let me hold your blessings without letting them lift me up to my harm.